Quebec’s major unions have apologized after protesters at a May Day event in Montreal over the weekend staged a mock beheading of the province’s labour minister.
A video circulating widely on social media shows demonstrators using what appears to be a guillotine to decapitate a papier mâché effigy of Jean Boulet.
The incident on Saturday drew widespread criticism from Quebec political leaders, including Premier Christine Fréchette.
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The group behind the mock decapitation is called Alliance Ouvrière — workers’ alliance in English — and describes itself online as the “most militant activists” within the labour movement.
In an email to The Canadian Press, the group says their display at the international workers’ day event was a symbolic performance aimed at expressing anger toward political and economic elites.
Quebec’s major unions, which organized the May Day march, issued a joint statement saying they were not involved in the performance and apologizing for what happened.
Montreal police were not immediately able to say whether any arrests had been made in connection with the mock beheading.
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